How to Add $10K in Property Value With Smart Renovations with Bernadette Janson

Bernadette Janson from The School of Renovating flipped homes for over 40 years (yep, before The Block was even a thing), and is now spilling the tea on all her best-kept renovation secrets. From $500 Hamptons kitchens to the #1 mistake most first-time renovators make, this episode is packed with gold.

Whether you’ve got reno dreams or just love a good before-and-after, Bernadette’s genius tips on where to spend (and where not to), how to boost your home's value on a budget, and her go-to hacks for kitchens, bathrooms and curb appeal will blow your mind. 🛠️✨

Tune in now before you start that “simple” DIY project that could cost you thousands...

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Intro & Guest Welcome
01:01 – Where to Start Before You Renovate
01:50 – The Power of Planning: 90% of the Reno Happens Here
03:17 – Creating a Master Plan & Understanding Your Market
04:34 – Mood Boards, Design Confidence & Learning From Experts
06:17 – The Biggest Mistakes First-Time Renovators Make
07:42 – When NOT to Spend the Money
08:25 – DIY or Hire? How to Decide
10:02 – The Best ROI Areas to Focus On
11:50 – Kitchen Reno Hacks
13:15 – The $500 Hamptons Kitchen with Smeg Appliances
14:27 – Bathroom Budget Tips
16:24 – Bedroom Makeovers on a Budget
18:07 – Why Street Appeal Matters
20:00 – Yard & Garden Hacks
21:19 – What She Renovates Offers
22:31 – Final Words & Where to Find Bernadette

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE

Facebook Marketplace
Used for sourcing budget-friendly kitchens and renovation materials: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace
Gumtree Australia
Another great spot for secondhand renovation finds: https://www.gumtree.com.au

CONNECT WITH BERNADETTE JANSON

Website: https://theschoolofrenovating.com/
She Renovates Podcast: https://theschoolofrenovating.com/podcast-highlights-for-class-renovation-project/
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_school_of_renovating/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschoolofrenovating 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renovate-for-profit 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@she_renovates_bernadette?lang=en 

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
Website: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladiesfinanceclub/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/

TAKEAWAYS

• Take a step back and live in your home before renovating.
• 90% of the renovation happens in the planning phase.
• Avoid highly personal choices that may devalue your property.
• Spending money wisely is crucial for adding value.
• Consider hiring a handyman for cost-effective solutions.
• Street appeal significantly impacts property value.
• A cohesive look in your home adds value.
• Second-hand kitchens can be a great budget hack.
• Paint and soft furnishings can transform a bedroom.
• Mulch can enhance the appearance of your yard.

SOUND BITES

“Don’t touch a thing until you’ve lived in the house. Trust me, you’ll change your mind.”
“90% of a renovation happens in the planning, not the demo day.”
“One of our students bought a Hamptons kitchen with Smeg appliances for $500. It would’ve cost $50,000 brand new.”
“You don’t need a massive budget, you need smart decisions.”
“A fresh coat of paint and a floor-to-ceiling curtain can completely transform a bedroom.”
“Mulch hides a multitude of sins in your garden.”
“The biggest mistake new renovators make? Highly personal design choices.”
“Red kitchens and French Provincial overload? That’s how you devalue a property.”
“If time is on your side, try DIY. But don’t skimp on quality, buyers will notice.”
“A good handyman is worth their weight in gold, half the price of a carpenter and just as handy.”
“You can renovate on a budget, if you know where to look and what NOT to do.”
“Sometimes the best reno advice is: don’t spend the money.”

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Molly: Hey ladies, welcome to Get Rich, the podcast that helps you do just that. Get rich and stay rich. I'm your host, Molly Benjamin, and if you are into the block or you've got some renovation dreams of your own, then this episode is for you because today I am talking to Bernadette Janssen. She's the founder of She Renovates, and she's been.

[00:00:20] Flipping and styling home is for over 40 years. Yep. She has seen it all. The budget blowouts, the value adding wins, and the big mistakes first time renovators make. So whether you are planning your first Reno or you just love a good before and after moment, there's loads of practical advice in this episode.

[00:00:39] So hit that subscribe button and let's get onto it. Bernadette, welcome to the show. Thank you,

[00:00:45] Bernadette: Molly. I'm very pleased to be here.

[00:00:48] Molly: So when it comes to renovating, there wouldn't be many people in Australia who know as much as you do about this 'cause you've been doing it for so long. So question for you. If someone's like, you know what, I'm gonna renovate my home.

[00:01:01] They're brand new to it. What would you say is a good place to start?

[00:01:07] Bernadette: To be honest with you, what I'd be saying to them is to take a step back. Yeah. And actually live in the home for a little while before you do anything, because the reality is that you change your mind. I've know this because we've renovated a few homes that we've lived in.

[00:01:26] Had I done the renovation, the minute I thought about it, it would've been something totally different and probably a waste of money. So that's my first step. The next step is to do adequate planning and to be honest with you. While you might be busting to break out the sledgehammer and start knocking at

[00:01:47] Molly: walls, you're like, I've watched the block.

[00:01:49] I'm ready to go.

[00:01:50] Bernadette: Yeah. So I always say that 90% of the reno happens in the planning.

[00:01:55] Molly: Yeah.

[00:01:55] Bernadette: In order to make sure that any money you spend on the house is spent wisely, is going to add value and is not gonna have to be ripped out again later on. Trust me, I've done that. Then. Time spent in planning, understanding, like I'm assuming that people listening to this episode, if they're renovating their own home, they want it to add value, they want to, it's a big asset.

[00:02:20] They wanna make sure that they return. A good return on what they spend. So planning, like understanding the market, understanding the area, what people will pay for, because it's a big difference between what you want to do and what will actually add value and create sort of a master plan. It sounds like a WSI word, but in reality, like it will really.

[00:02:48] Hold you in good stead and make sure that when you get to the end of that renovation, which at the moment might seem a long way out on the horizon, that you are really happy with what you've got and you've spent wisely. Mm-hmm. And the third thing I would suggest you do is you pull together a mood board because that way you'll get a really cohesive look in your home, which also adds value and will help you to with your design decisions.

[00:03:17] Molly: Mm. And with those design decisions as well, like I don't consider myself a very creative person. I've seen some of the designs you've done and they are like something from Vogue, they look amazing. Is that like something you just naturally have in you or is it learned? I.

[00:03:32] Bernadette: Well, it's a bit of both actually, because I'm not an interior designer and we have, like you would know that our architect is our son.

[00:03:41] Molly: Yes.

[00:03:42] Bernadette: And so before I start any project, I actually work with him on the concept. Yeah. Really simple hour spent getting the floor plan, but he also helps with, with mood boards, so, okay. So that it really sets the project up. Plus I have picked up along the way in my early days, so I've been renovating really for 40 years, like really sort of intensely for 20, in the early days, I actually used to engage an interior designer to actually go through the project with me before I started because like I was in the days where.

[00:04:19] I would paint rooms, different colors and things like that. Yeah. Which when you are wanting to add value, you want consistency. So I learned a lot from her. Okay. Fantastic. Lots of help from my friends. I think the answer is

[00:04:34] Molly: yes, and I think as well, this is why I'm such a big advocate of surrounding yourself.

[00:04:39] With the experts who've done it before. I know when I went to Tony Robbins, he's like, find someone who's done it and join them or pay them to help you. And I know that you have a group as well where people can come into your group and you guide them as well, and you help them with those kind of renovations, um, decisions and the process as well.

[00:04:57] Because sometimes it can feel really overwhelming when you're starting out. But find your group if you're listening and join it.

[00:05:04] Bernadette: That is so true, and I think the other thing is I think people tend to shy away, particularly newbie renovators tend to shy away from that because they're concerned it's going to cost a lot of money.

[00:05:16] But in reality, like I don't spend a lot of money on design. It's just being in that environment. You're in a community that supports you. And for instance, at the moment I'm doing a project with 14 renovators. Yeah. Wow. And we bought a, a property in Melbourne. And so normally I just organize the design, but because they're part of the project, I wanted to make it more collaboratively collaborative.

[00:05:43] And I have some interior designers in the group and we've just been having a lot of. Fun. Like really collaborating on what? Yeah. And it really just is a conversation on Facebook. So if you're in a great group, yeah. A good Facebook group is your friend.

[00:05:58] Molly: Yeah. Love that. And it can save you so much money in the long term as well.

[00:06:03] 'cause you can learn from each other's mistakes. Get hints. Absolutely. Tips, all that kind of stuff. So I guess going into that, what are some of the common mistakes you see first time renovator home renovators make. Okay, so

[00:06:17] Bernadette: I talked about planning. That would be the biggest, the biggest mistake making, yeah, not doing enough planning, not doing any research, not doing a budget, and that's, pardon me, really important so that you can afford to renovate and hold the property.

[00:06:35] The second one is devaluing the property with highly personal choices. So, you know, we've all seen the red kitchens and so on, but it can be like, I've got a student at the moment who really loves French Provincial and her house is a testament to it, like very over the top. And so we're in the business of renovating for profit.

[00:06:58] If you put that on something like that, on the market. It's highly likely not to sell because it's just too much. Yeah. And so, yeah. So some guidance in that area is really important because, you know, you don't want it to be overly personal. Yeah. The other one is spending money unnecessarily. Mm-hmm. Um, I'll give you an example.

[00:07:22] I have a brother who lives in country Victoria. He was renovating a house. He said to me, I'm gonna put a new roof on. Now. He's a farmer. He's someone who appreciates a new roof, and it was gonna cost him about 20,000. I said, don't do it. You won't get your money back. It doesn't need a new roof, but oh, you know, a beautiful new roof.

[00:07:42] So he did it. And he, when he sold the property, he didn't, oh, I think he might have just covered his costs and just recently he came back to me and he said, you were right. I spent money that I didn't need to spend. And so sometimes we get a bit of a bee in our bonnet about things that Yeah, we value. Yeah.

[00:08:00] So being really careful to make sure that the money that you spend does actually add value.

[00:08:06] Molly: Yeah, I love that. The lady who's been in renovation for 40 years was right. Oh, funny about that, isn't it? Awesome. And I guess, what is that point? 'cause I said, I know you mentioned before about bringing in like designers back in the early days, but what is that kind of point where you decide if you wanna DYI it or bring in professionals?

[00:08:25] Okay. I guess YouTube can only teach you so much.

[00:08:28] Bernadette: Well, to be honest with you, I've been watching this girl on TikTok who's building from scratch, seriously doing her own renovation. It just blows my mind. And I have to say, I would have a go at anything. Not so much these days, but in my early days I had to go at just about anything that the law allows you to do.

[00:08:48] Obviously there are some things that you can't do. Um, we won't be doing our own electrical work or plumbing. No, and I think the secret is if time is on your hand, so most of our projects we do in two months, so we're not gonna do too much DIYing in that time. But if time is on your hands, I would say.

[00:09:07] Have a go and figure out what you can comfortably do and do good quality work. 'cause that's really important.

[00:09:16] Molly: Yeah.

[00:09:17] Bernadette: And what you can't do then just leave two trades and it's sort of not like a really good halfway point between engaging a carpenter and you having a go at doing yourself is maybe. Get a good handyman.

[00:09:33] They're about half the price of a carpenter or a Tyler, and can be a really good option for getting work done cost effectively. Mm-hmm. For smoke with any job. If you've gotta bring a trade in to do a small job, there's sort of a line where it becomes uneconomical for them. So you're sort of paying a loading on every little job.

[00:09:53] Yeah. So if you can have a handyman come in and do a whole lot of stuff, hang a door, lay a few tiles system, then that it can be a really good cost saving measure.

[00:10:02] Molly: Awesome. Yeah. Such good advice there. And I guess, which are the areas of a home which tend to kind of have the best return? Like if you only had a limited budget, would it be like kitchen, bathroom, would it be the front of the house?

[00:10:16] Like what would you say are the most kind of best ROIs?

[00:10:20] Bernadette: So we have a little pyramid, actually, I should give it to you. That demonstrates the value that you are adding, so to help decide what to do and what not to do. Yeah. On the top of that pyramid is, oh gosh, straight appeal. Okay, so that's first thing.

[00:10:38] Then the next thing down is the floor plan. So in terms of does it work or not with the floor plan, often it's, you know, small tweaks. Can you know what they say? Small changes. Hinges can swing big doors. I tend not to advocate for complex structural renos, but minor, uh, changes in the floor plan. For instance, if you have an obsolete room that you can turn into an extra bedroom or bathroom or whatever can be a big value add.

[00:11:07] Next down are general cosmetics, so that's kitchens, bathrooms, general cosmetic finishes, painting, you know, modernizing the home, and then we go to. Addressing buyer objections, anything really negative about the home that you need to fix. So

[00:11:25] Molly: that's sort of the order.

[00:11:27] Bernadette: Nice.

[00:11:28] Molly: Okay, great. So I just thought maybe we could go through like a few different areas in a home.

[00:11:34] Yeah. And maybe you just give us a one or two tips on like things that you've seen maybe some of your like members or clients do to add that value or any kind of Yep. Cost hacks. Perfect. So the first one would be kitchen renovations.

[00:11:50] Bernadette: Okay. So. With kitchens, if you're not going to pull the kitchen out, then you can do a really minor makeover where you either paint the cabinetry or change the doors, change the tapware, maybe even upgrade the appliances.

[00:12:07] 'cause they tend to date a quick a kitchen. Impactfully and resurface or change the bench top? Yeah. Something a lot of our students do is they actually buy a secondhand kitchen. Um, so when you say buy a secondhand kitchen, what do you mean by that? So there's a lot of people in this world that have more money than sense, and we'll buy a house that has a virtually new kitchen.

[00:12:31] And not like the kitchen and wanna pull it out. And so if you, uh, keep a watch on demolition sales and so on. So for instance, one of our students was doing a renovation in Newcastle, which had quite a big kitchen. And so she bought a Hamptons kitchen off a builder from a beachside suburb, really beautiful white kitchen with the 60 millimeter.

[00:12:59] Marble bench top. Wow. All the S meg appliances for $500. What? Yeah, I know. Wow. Because the thing is, for a builder, it's gonna cost them more than that to dispose of the kitchen. So where the cost of transporting it out and pay them a bit of beer money, you can definitely get some really good deals. Wow.

[00:13:22] That is such a good hack. It is, and it, but it takes organizations, so that's where I'm saying planning. Now, of course, remember that's not the end of the cost. It probably would cost about 5,000 by the time you've had the IT transported, stored, installed, and so on. Yeah. That's still a massive saving.

[00:13:42] Molly: Yeah.

[00:13:42] 'cause if you were buying that brand new, how much would that kitchen cost around? Oh, 40, 50,000.

[00:13:47] Bernadette: Wow. Yeah.

[00:13:49] Molly: Yeah. So Facebook marketplace, watch out ladies.

[00:13:52] Bernadette: Yeah. And Gumtree, like I've bought, I've bought a demo kitchen of. Gumtree, which for a project where during COVID when we just couldn't get cabinetry made.

[00:14:01] Yeah. I bought one from a developer from his showroom, so brand new with all new merely appliances packaged, and I paid $8,000 for it. So it's, they're great hacks for getting the reno. I know we'd said, we weren't talking about renovating, full renovating, but yeah, if you are, you can get a top finish without spending a lot of money.

[00:14:25] Molly: Yeah. Wow. That's so cool to know.

[00:14:27] Bernadette: Yeah.

[00:14:28] Molly: Bathroom renovations. So how can homeowners give bathrooms a budget friendly makeover?

[00:14:34] Bernadette: Okay, so with bathrooms, all depends whether the tiles are in good order or not. Now, if the tiles are in good order, you can do like a forensic clean to really get them sparkling.

[00:14:46] And there are cleaners that specialize in this too. Okay. And upgrade the grout, you know, touch up the grout so that it's nice and clean. And then just. Depending on the color of the tiles, then just new taps, maybe a new vanity and new shower screen. And you've pretty much got a new bathroom. Mm-hmm. The next step is maybe the color's not right.

[00:15:10] You can then spray the bathroom. Okay. So that costs a couple of thousand to do, but a really good finish. I would, I know I've seen people brush paint bathrooms. Personally, I think that's a mistake because it. Doesn't really last. If you go with a company like Therma Glaze, they have a epoxy resin type product that they guarantee for 10 years.

[00:15:34] Mm-hmm. Oh, wow. So much better option. But if you are fully renovating the bathroom, like I've got this thing about. Tiles. I like the tiles to go to the ceiling. If you're gonna tile these days, tiling is very, very expensive. Like we're talking about tiles costing, average tiles costing $200 a square meter.

[00:15:54] And so what we are doing is in on walls where we don't need to have tiles. We are using the waterproof vj. Which is a really nice look. You know, instead of spending $200 plus say another 60 or 70 on tiles per square meter, you're getting your VJ for about $50 a square meter. Wow. So much more cost effective.

[00:16:15] Yeah.

[00:16:15] Molly: Yeah. Okay. Awesome. No, some great tips there for bathrooms. Bedrooms. What about bedrooms for like a bit of a modern bedroom look?

[00:16:24] Bernadette: Okay. I think with bedrooms, you're talking about paint and soft furnishings. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So. Paint is a big bang for your buck improvement and most people can wield a paint rush.

[00:16:37] Mm-hmm. And so that's where I'd go. Window dressing, like a really good tip, like it's, I think it gives a bedroom a very restful feel if you have some lovely linen floor to ceiling curtains and you can buy them very cost effectively. Tip to hang them from the ceiling so they, they have that extra length and graciousness mm-hmm.

[00:16:59] Lighting. So if your light in the bedroom has a bayonet fixing, you can just switch that out with a DIY pendant.

[00:17:08] Molly: Yeah. So

[00:17:09] Bernadette: electrician required, you know, a lovely rafia pendant. It can really give it a great look. Soft furnishings like. This is probably not a very popular tip, but I think basic sewing skills are really important for renovators.

[00:17:25] Yeah. You can do just making your own cushion covers. You can go to a remnant house, buy some really exotic remnants and make really gorgeous one-off, uh, cushion covers and very basic sewing skills for that. Yeah, I remember did cushion

[00:17:41] Molly: covers in year 12. Home ec.

[00:17:43] Bernadette: Yeah. Well, there you go. And then. Also like I've made my own padded bed heads.

[00:17:48] They're really easy to do. So lots of things that you can do that won't cost you a lot of money mm-hmm. But will give you a lot of satisfaction and create a really beautiful bedroom.

[00:18:00] Molly: Lovely. And I know we spoke about it just briefly before, but how important is that kind of street, like a, the curb appeal?

[00:18:07] So the front of the house.

[00:18:09] Bernadette: So the curb appeal is really important and the reason why is because. So. The value of the house is based on what someone will pay for it. Yeah. Okay. So when someone's sitting out the front of your house thinking, is this a property that I'm interested in buying? They're thinking all sorts of things.

[00:18:27] They're thinking, you know, what will the people, the people I work with, think of me when this is my home? You know, all this sort of stuff. It's all around this. Status and whatever. Yeah. So it needs to look as good as it can and it needs to be able to get them out of the car and come in and have a look.

[00:18:43] That's its whole sur uh, purpose. So the street appeal needs to not look weird. 'cause sometimes you buy houses that look a bit weird out in the front and. If you don't like I've, I've had people that have not changed it and they have lived to see the errors of their ways. You absolutely wanna make that house as welcoming and as pretty in inverted columns as you can.

[00:19:07] Yeah. Okay.

[00:19:08] Molly: Yeah. So it's worth spending that bit of extra money on sorting that out.

[00:19:11] Bernadette: Yeah. And it doesn't need to be a lot of money, just little things like fencing. So once again, like we did this little, when we're doing that little cottage in Newcastle. Yeah. I wanted. The picket fence because that's what the house required, but six or 7,000 for a one stretch of fencing.

[00:19:30] But I went on to marketplace, bought a picket fence in Merrickville that someone had taken down in panels for $500 again. So just give a bit of time planning, buying awnings to go on your windows. Like if your house is a bit sad looking, often a nice black and white stripe awning will really make a pot turf.

[00:19:51] Really basic, but everyone wants, well, I dunno that everyone does, but that picket fence with the lovely lawn is always good. Look, so,

[00:20:00] Molly: yeah. Well that was like my final question around just like, yeah, the yard, I guess, and how much. Because I guess when you think of home renovation, that's kind of included in it all.

[00:20:09] It

[00:20:09] Bernadette: is, yeah. Yeah, and so I'd say probably three things. Firstly is the lawn. Okay? So if you don't need to completely re turf, if you've got the time, you can seed, that's dirt, sheep, high maintenance, but dirt. She, if you've got lawn and it's pretty good, but it's got some bear patches, you can plant those divots in the bear patches and give them time to.

[00:20:33] Spread, which they do. So get your lawn sorted out. And I would say this next thing is beds and mulch is your friend. Okay? So mulch will cover a multi multitude of sins. So if your beds are looking a bit sad, put mulch and then plant mass plantings of one or two varieties. Okay? So, and if you walk around your neighborhood, you'll see what you need to plant.

[00:20:59] So if you can get. Those two things, right? And then the fencing, right? So you've got the sort of, you can keep kids in, keep pets in, and you've got security. I think if you nail those three things. In most properties that will make a massive difference.

[00:21:16] Molly: Awesome. So many great tips there. Thank you so much Bernadette.

[00:21:19] And for those people who are like, look, I wanna do my first renovation, I don't wanna do it by myself. You mentioned you have students. Could you just give a quick overview of what your company does?

[00:21:29] Bernadette: Okay. So we work with women who want to create an income and a life they love with renovating. And that starts.

[00:21:36] Firstly, for someone that doesn't have a home, the first thing is to actually get that first home and improve its value so you own more of it. Then as women, as we women, we grow up, we bring our families up often. We get to a point where we want to do something different to what we're doing, and we want more money, and so that's when we also work with them to build an income from their passion from renovating for profit.

[00:22:05] So that's what we do. Um, we have a annual event, a podcast, and a Facebook group called She Renovates. And anyone who's interested in the topic is welcome to come. Lots of free tips and information in that group and podcasts.

[00:22:20] Molly: And Bernadette does regular master classes with Ladies Finance Club, which are always fantastic and always get the best feedback on, and I'll pop all those links in the show notes so you can go check that out.

[00:22:31] But I highly recommend if you are. Wanting to get into renovating space. Definitely check out Bernadette and what she offers. 'cause it's definitely some of the best stuff I've seen in Australia. Oh, you're a darling, Molly. Thank you. It's true. All right. Thanks so much for coming on the show, Bernadette.

[00:22:46] Thank you for having me.

KEYWORDS

renovation, home improvement, DIY, interior design, property value, budgeting, home decor, renovation mistakes, curb appeal, kitchen renovation